When it comes to guitars I sometimes think I must be riding with the angels as I can't seem to get through more than six months or so without some really intriguing guitar showing up at my doorstep. Not being a rich man and having more instruments than I need I usually pass. But every so often. . .

As ya'll might know, I am a big Gibson fan. A couple of months ago I stumbled across a guitar I could not get out of my head. I was told it was a refinished burst 1943 J-45. But I looked inside and wait a minute - a beveled neck block and H in the Factory Order Number. This was no 1943 but a 1942 - the first year of production and with a little luck one of a handful of natural top J-45s (or more accurately J-50s) Gibson made in July 1942 (the FON does place it within the range of these guitars but the jury is still out on this one). Not in the best of condition - some cracks in the back, replaced pickguard and tuners, and a couple of extra bolts some wingnut had slammed in the bridge. But heck, I am a player not a collector and nothing that cannot be fixed. So I handed over a 1957 Martin 00-18 and a bit of my hard-earned cash without a second thought.

If the J-45 is the Telecaster of acoustics then the banner J-45s are the Blackguard Teles of the acoustic world. A wide open, big banging guitar with a huge and dry low end. First song I played on it - what else but "Big Road Blues." Then I wanted to try something a bit more senstive do dropped it into Open G and launched into Jorma's "Water Song." Now being in a Hot Tuna frame of mind I brought the guitar back into standard tuning and hit "Mann's Fate." Yup, looks like this is the start of a beautiful friendship.